


Load File

by Darkus



Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/F, F/M, File Bullshittery, Implied Sexual Content, MONIKA YES, Multi, Repeated day, Try Everything, because i'm horrible at writing romantic shit, gameverse, have i ever mentioned that i'm horrible at writing romantic shit, monikA NO
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-03-17 06:59:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13653852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkus/pseuds/Darkus
Summary: fuck me I gave burrahobbit a prompt and now I want to write it tooalso known asGroundhog Day: Literature Club Edition





	1. First Load

**Author's Note:**

> so I kinda gave Burrahobbit a prompt for their Kiss Kiss (Fall in Love) story and uh  
> now I want to write it too
> 
> why do i do this to myself
> 
> Oh and go look at Kiss Kiss (Fall in Love) if you want something that's literally just shipping fluff.  
> It's pretty good.

Monika woke up and stretched her arms out, slightly exhausted. Really, there wasn't anything to be exhausted  _about_ , but Monika wasn't the best wakey-uppey person. But her alarm had sounded, and lo and behold—it's 5:30 in the fucking morning. School wasn't for another three hours. Monika mused that she was originally coded to have a long and convoluted wake up process with all kinds of activities ranging from... What do people do in the mornings anyway? Yoga?

_Might as well do something with my free time._ She walked downstairs into the kitchen, and decided to... Hm. Actually, what should she do? She had a plethora of options surrounding her, but nothing felt particularly...  _good_. Out of boredom, she pulled out her phone and checked her messages.

_...What?_

None of the messages from yesterday were present. The ones from the day before were marked "Yesterday." The club president checked the date and it's... Yesterday.

_Did—Did they load?_  Monika thought.  _Because I travelled back in time... Hm. Maybe his poem is different. I'll need to see._

Monika's empty morning came to a close when she forgot to eat and ended up just taking a swig of orange juice straight from the bottle in a rush to have  _some_ kind of nutritional value out of the pseudo-breakfast.

School went by just like the day before. Calculus was as boring as ever, History repeated history, and Mr. Anderson went on a drug-fueled rant again. Nobody knew why they still haven't fired Mr. Anderson. Nobody cared. Hey, a free class period is a free class period—if one that has rants about controlling the world in the background.

Come club time, Monika decided to see if the game had just not cared to load a new day and just change club time or the day was really reverted.

Her answer was given by way of things happening exactly like before.

Natsuki tripped on a chair leg trying to stomp over to Sayori, Yuri accidentally ripped a page and looked up to see if anyone noticed, and Hajime was... just kinda there.

Looking over his shoulder, the poem was the exact same.

_...What?_

No, no, no. If the player had loaded a save, they did it to change a poem, right? And they loaded from today but not further. So they wanted to change today's poem... Right?

So what is the meta-aware girl seeing right now?

Feeling a sense of strange dread, she approached the sole boy in the club like she normally would have at this point, prompting him to share his poem with someone.

That went off without a hitch. And like yesterday, his first choice was Natsuki.

No, no, no, something was wrong.

_Something was wrong._

Monika's head was screaming that at her. But she couldn't figure out what was wrong. What was the program doing?

Did it automatically load?

Is this some kind of... Demo version?

Multiple things went through her head. All kinds of possibilities and speculation.

Monika decided to drop it.

Just to make sure she wasn't being duped somehow, she turned her alarm off when she went to sleep.

She'll wake up on time anyway, right?


	2. Second-Third Load

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it begins
> 
> hahahahhahahahah

Monika woke up to her 5:30 alarm. She sat up groggily, and stretched her arms out.

_Wait a second—_ The sleep crawling from her brain, the girl realized something important.

_Didn't I turn it off last... night..._

Monika hastily searched the night stand for her phone. Grasping it in her hands, she looked at the date.

**[December 17th, 20??]**

She figured that the year was never decided and that's why it left question marks. But more importantly...

It was December 17th for the third time in a row. Something was wrong here.

_They... They loaded again, right?_ Monika checked the console through a laptop given by her "uncle" (All the data said so but because of the world's... status, she knew better.) and it did, in fact, say that the game had been loaded at around 2 in the morning of the next day to roughly three hours ago.

The only problem, Monika mused, was that she couldn't save or load—the player had to do it themselves. She could check saves, but she couldn't rewrite data from them. The club president could only use her abilities while the game was, y'know,  _running._  

So she was stuck in December 17th. Monika didn't know what was going on, but she hoped the player just made an accident and there would be a different outcome to today and the game would move on. Simple, right?

After a morning spent doing nothing but nursing the entire bottle of orange juice, with a small interlude of actual hygienic preparation (Outside of brushing her teeth—she still wanted the orange juice.) and checking media out of boredom, Monika left home to go to school.

Which was exactly the same as the last two times she went through the day.

Calculus (Boring), History (Nap time), Physics (Stop ranting, Mr. Anderson), and lunch. Not in that order, but Monika didn't care since she could tune all those out while she tried to think about what could've happened and what might happen during club.

Then, club time came. Monika steeled herself to repeat the actions of the last two iterations, so as to not freak out the player.

She entered the club room, first as usual. Then Yuri, then Natsuki, then Sayori dragging Hajime. Yuri had situated herself with the large novel with the soon-to-be-ripped page, Natsuki brushing against the desk she'll trip over later, and Sayori... being Sayori, really, Hajime was doing nothing. Then suddenly in succession the page being ripped, the girl getting tripped, and the poem being prepared.

The poem was the same too.

Monika internally screamed as she walked up to Hajime.

"You haven't shared your poem with someone yet?" She nudged the poor boy.

"No, not really." Hajime shrugged. "It's pretty shit too so..."

"Aw, come on, at least share with someone!" Monika smiled, hoping that Hajime would get the hint. Of course he would, though, since this is the third time she's done this.

At least he's not wrong about the poem being shit though.

He walked off to a fallen Natsuki, helping her up and offering the poem. Sayori looked almost heartbroken, and Yuri was mostly glad that nobody noticed the sound she had made earlier.

While the two had a moment—and probably a CG from the player's perspective—Sayori looked down at whatever she was writing and started scratching it out. Yuri took notice and cocked an eyebrow, but didn't question.

Before she knew it, club was over. Everyone went their separate ways—though Sayori and Hajime had to go the same way anyway. Monika arrived at her house mentally exhausted from confusion. Since when does a day repeat itself three times for no reason? Well, there was that one movie, but that was fiction, right?

...Then again, Monika  _was_ in a work of fiction. Literally anything could happen.

Monika internally panicked as she made her way home, making mental notes to break her alarm and to make something different for dinner than the usual college student special. Maybe put peanut butter in it? No, that's just seem even more like a college student thing. She could afford way more than that.

Shutting the door behind her without realizing it, Monika went over her plans, and executed them near-flawlessly. Near because  _fuck_ what did they make the alarm clock out of? It took her a while, but she finally did it when she broke it in half with a hammer and the counter.

She went to bed soundly, after doing her usual...  _evening things._ You don't need to know what those evening things were, and Monika would rather you not know. 

* * *

 

Beep... Beep... Beep...

_Fuck's sake!_ Monika threw the nearest thing (A dakimakura with some... saucy stuff on it.) towards the alarm, instantly realizing that, one, it wouldn't do anything, and two, it's December 17th again. Again. Again?

Whatever, at this point Monika didn't care about the amount of times she repeats the day. She just wants to progress.

...Actually...

The day's repeated three... four times now? Each time she did the same things as the first time, at least in public. Today she'll try something different.

Monika tried to think about what to do that day. Well, she could, uh, force herself onto Hajime. That'd get the message across, and the player might've been waiting for that scenario, so win-win right? Oh, or she could go for one of the girls. Sure, they're also programs, but she checked the programming and it looks like they're actually AIs too, not just scripts. Hajime was... A weird one, actually. It looks like he's an AI but only when given a choice script. Before that he's kind of a carrot. But how would she go about the other girls?

Hm... Well, she could engineer a date with Yuri pretty easily—the tall girl probably had the same amount of free time on her hands, albeit she uses it for the entire cutting thing. Also, a yandere on her side. Score.

Natsuki would be kind of difficult, actually. She'd be the reject-ey type with the entire assertion thing. If she asked in private, though... Hm, maybe she's the kind that gives after even a little force? Monika made a mental note to investigate it later.

Oh, shit, Sayori. How was she supposed to handle Sayori? Asking her out on the spot would be... Really awkward, and this feels like the kinda thing Monika should build up. But she only has a single day each loop...

Hajime she could figuratively and literally force if she had to. Maybe push him into a locker and—Monika, no, that's rape. Maybe catch-22 him into choosing you though, that'd work.

Wait, fuck, it's 9:15. School started ten minutes ago.

Monika booked it to school, arriving to calculus late and murmuring an excuse about helping a puppy.

_Would that actually be a thing I'd be late for?_ Monika asked herself.  _I wouldn't be surprised, but..._

Next thing Monika knew it was club time and she was in the middle of debating to herself the logistics of puppy injury survivability.

_Uhm... Shit._ Monika forgot to pick something to do that day. Maybe she'll just let club slide like normal and then approach someone out of class.

Monika went through the motions that she's repeated before, and waited. Seeing Sayori so brokenhearted... Hm, maybe?

"Something wrong?" Monika elbowed Sayori, who was still staring at Hajime and Natsuki arguing about word choice.

"Huh? Oh!" Sayori looked up at Monika. "I'm, uh, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."

"Jealous?" Monika smirked. "Don't worry, I am too."

"Wai- Wha- Why-" Sayori stammered multiple different beginnings to multiple different responses.

_Now or never._ Monika tried to think of what to say, before just saying:

"I mean, if those two end up together I wouldn't mind taking you."

Sayori turned a light shade of pink, mixed with her pale-ish skin tone.

"Y-you mean like, as a girl-uhm... girlfriend?" Sayori looked up at Monika, before looking away.

_Fuck I'm gonna hate it if the day restarts._ Monika thought to herself, before carrying on conversation. "Yeah. Maybe I could treat you to a kind of... Trial date? Tonight?"

"Uhm-I-Er-Sure!" Sayori stuttered her way through the response, with a wave of emotions coming over her like depression usually does.

"Meet me by the park bench—you should know the one, right?" Monika watched as Sayori nodded and hastily put her things away.

Oh, it was the end of the club meeting.

Monika went straight to the meeting spot, and even though it was the middle of winter she didn't feel particularly cold. Roughly twenty minutes later Sayori had arrived.

"I, uh, didn't know what to wear so I—uhm." Sayori played with a loose thread from the sleeve of the peach coloured jacket she was wearing.

"No, no, it's fine." Monika gestured to herself. "I didn't actually go home to change or anything, I kind of just came here."

"O-oh, then should I have just done the sa—"

"No! No, it's fine. You can do whatever, it's fine."

_Not even five minutes in and your date is already having second thoughts. Way to fucking go, me._

"Alright... So did you have anything in mind?"

"Hm... I was thinking maybe we could eat ou- _in_ somewhere, and probably crash at my place?"

_Fuck fuck fuck fuck leave the kinky shit until second date me goddamnit_

_wait, what second date_

"Oh, sure! I don't really know any good places though, so, uh, I guess you get to choose?"

"Hm. I don't actually know any real places myself."

"Oh! Then why don't we make something at your house!"

_...She's got a point. Plus, less travel and more time to— no stop thinking about that_

"Good idea. It's probably about a five minute walk, so... Follow me, I guess."

Monika motioned for Sayori to follow her through the winding roads they call a neighborhood. The pair stopped at an extremely large house, seemingly devoid of life.

"You, uhm, live here?" Sayori nervously looked between Monika and the house.

"Oh, yeah, uh... It looks spooky, but it's pretty nice inside." The ~~denial of skeletons~~  attempt at comfort did nothing to help Sayori's nerves until she got inside.

Sayori was welcomed with what looked like a ballroom. It was the antechamber.

"Feel free to leave your coat and shoes in here."

_And the rest on the—Stop it!_

Sayori did what she was told she could do, and took of an extra layer of clothing that was hidden underneath the jacket—which let Monika get an accidental glimpse of the depressed girl's midriff.

"A-Anyway," Monika was sure she was blushing, but couldn't really tell without a mirror, "what do you want to make?"

"Hm... What have you got?"

"A lot of things. I think some of this stuff might be expired though."

"Ah, hm... Tacos?"

"...Tacos?" Monika replied in a deadpan tone.

"Yeah, you know what a taco is, right?"

"...No?"

Sayori damn near instantly knocked Monika over while marching to the freezer, pulling out some ground beef of... dubious quality.

_Doesn't matter, day's gonna reset anyway._

Monika just took a step back and watched as Sayori suddenly became a flurry of working arms, making tacos of the best quality that she could. Monika couldn't actually cook to save her life, so this was a nice change of pace.

Roughly an hour later Monika realized that she was sitting up in her bed with Sayori, with the plate of tacos nowhere to be seen. Their conversation had halted the second the tacos were finished, and they had taken some to the room with them. They completely forgot what they were talking about beforehand.

_...Kinky time now?_

"So, uhm, uh..." Sayori looked around the room. "Do you have, uh, a guest room or something?"

"Yeah, but it's fine if you want to sleep in here."

"...Can I?"

The next couple of hours were a blur. All Monika knew by the end was that the only cloth on the bed was the blanket.

Monika fell asleep, hoping that the day wouldn't reset.

 


	3. Fourth Load

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri gets some Monika love!
> 
> ...
> 
> That sounded better in my head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao depression and forgetting this made this chapter off by like two days whoops
> 
> I'm okay now  
> probably

_Beep... Beep... Bee-_

A loud bang sounded through the room as Monika furiously threw the clock across the room.

Sayori was nowhere to be found, nothing even signified that Sayori was ever there. Monika even had her pajamas on.

 _...Oh right._ Monika had briefly forgotten the rather provocative activity that had happened. Or never happened, is it were.

 _And here I thought Sayori was gonna be the hard one..._ Monika mused.  _Hm... who next?_

As the literature club president stepped into her kitchen with a fresh set of clothes on, she rummaged through the fridge and tried to think of something to do that day.

As she emptied the orange juice a third time, Monika finally decided to do Yuri this loop.  _Save the best for last—Besides, I don't know how Hajime would react._

Then the day, boring as ever, whizzed by in a storm of thoughts about approach and scenarios. By the time the literature club was up and running Monika had thought of a... Pseudo-plan to do this. She managed to bullshit a one-day date with Sayori, she could do this, right? ...Right?

Trip—Rip—Clip

Monika nudged Hajime again, and then went of towards Yuri. Almost regretfully, as she knew Sayori's predicament now. As the club president sat down next to the nightmarish woman, she noticed a small blush form.

"Hm? Embarrassed?" Monika prodded Yuri, knowing full well that this was about the page.

"About w-what?" The stutter in Yuri's voice was just barely comprehensible. "What would there be to be emb-barrassed about?"

"Well, accidentally making a loud sound." Monika noticed Yuri wince. "Or maybe a cute girl suddenly sitting next to you." That almost made Yuri wince harder. "Oh, so the cute girl one?"

"Oh th-this is just unfair!" Yuri glared at Monika, to no effect.

"So, I guess I have to ask before I move then. Are you into yuri, Yuri?" Monika closely watched the taller woman.

Okay... Her face was turning red. Covering face, so normal flustered stuff. Sputtering nonsense in an attempt of language, check. Oh whoops she dropped the book. Monika went to pick it up.

Or—Wait, the book was under Yuri's legs. Easiest route would be... between... them...

_Well fuck me._

Monika said an internal "Fuck it" and reached for the book. It was at this point that Yuri had reached the fetal position phase of being flustered.

Which also meant Monika's arm was now trapped between Yuri's legs.

_FuckfuckfuckfUCK—_

The legs had closed first, then come up to chest height. Due to positioning, Monika's hand ended up near the middle of Yuri's midriff. Not particularly touching but if she pushed a little...

Yuri yelped a little as she felt the warmth of Monika's hand. In a completely not-perverted-like-the-last-loop way. In this compromising position, the both of them would rather be at their homes than at the club. Thankfully, nobody noticed. Or at least Monika thought. Doesn't matter, day's gonna loop anyway.

"We should, uhm, go do something else." Monika laughed the situation off as she pried her arm free from the apparent leg-based beartrap. Time to wing it. "Actually, hey, why don't we go somewhere tonight?"

"You mean the club, right?" Yuri raised an eyebrow as she brushed herself off.

"Uhm... No. Just... Just the two of us."

"No."

...What?

"I-I'm sorry, it's just—I don't know, maybe this is too sudden?" Yuri stammered out her reason. "Maybe later but..."

Monika mentally said "Fuck it" once again and did the ballsy move. Yuri's in a yuri now, and there's a surprise kiss.

After they broke from the kiss Yuri descended into incoherent gibberish and her face continually receiving more blood. At this rate—

Fuck, nevermind, it happened already. Blood was escaping Yuri's nose slowly, but surely. Both parties panicked and rushed to find something to absorb the blood while the bleeding dies down.

"What even  _was_ that?" Monika asked, in relation to the blood.

"Long story, but I tend to get nosebleeds in high pressure situations." Yuri kept a paper towel from the washroom to her face. "Now my turn to ask— _why in the name of C'thulhu did you do that?_ _"_

"C'thulhu?" Monika tilted her head. She'd heard about the mythos but never read them herself. "A-Anyway, I thought that maybe I could, uh, convince you to a date tonight? I mean, if you had other plans then—"

"Mm, I don't have any real plans..." Yuri had a strangely distant look that screamed to Monika 'but that was when I was gonna cut myself again'. "But... I don't know. I guess I'm not comfortable with the idea of going somewhere."

"Then we can go to your house." Monika noted.

The club president was sure she could hear Yuri curse under her breath. "A-alright, fine. Just... Six sounds fine?"

 _Well, that'd be enough time for new bandages and hiding evidence._ "Sure!" Monika beamed at Yuri, obviously excited.

Monika could tell Yuri wasn't particularly ecstatic about this, but she'd at least tolerate it until Monika either left or got kinky (again).

Monika would prefer the latter.

Definitely the latter.

Time suddenly rushed by, and next thing she knew Monika was four minutes late and trudging through the snow that had accumulated but nobody had bothered to actually shovel. Yuri appeared at the door, looking bored—though not disappointed, interestingly. The taller girl let the other in, closing the door behind her and offering a seat on a nearby couch.

Monika took said seat, and thought about where to go from here. Her train of thought was interrupted by Yuri.

"Green, Black...? Oh, how about this new Peppermint one?" Yuri asked from the kitchen. Monika quickly guessed it was tea flavours and responded.

"Uh, sure! Have you tried it yet?"

"No, actually. Though I thought I'd buy it anyway."

...

The tea was poured and the two girls sipped and took turns talking.

"So, uh..."

"Uh...?"

"I don't know what normal couples would do in this situation, uhm..."

"We  _aren't_ a normal couple."

_Well, one of us is self destructive and the other can hack the world. Definitely not normal by most definitions of the word._

"Hell, we aren't even a couple."

_...Fuck._

"W-We can be!"

"Which leads me to question why you, miss perfect at everything, would want to date me."

"I'm not perfect at everything!"

"Name something."

"Well, romance, for starters."

"...You're not wrong. Something else, though."

"I'm bad at cooking."

"Then what do you eat?"

"Cup noodles and orange juice."

"...Okay?" Yuri seemed to think for a solid minute, which made Monika a little afraid.

"Still, why would you want to date me?"

"I..." Monika thought for a second. "...I'm lonely."

"Don't you have that bunch of afterschool friends or whatever?"

"They just wanted to one-up me at some point, anyway. You guys are the only real friends I've had."

 _For a given amount of_ real _but..._

Monika suddenly collapsed against Yuri, with her face pressed against the woman's body.  ~~Better known as: A face full of boob.~~

"Uh, Monika?"

"Mmm?"

"Do you need to, uh, lie down or something?"

"Mmm-mmm."

"I'll take that as a no. Do you still  _want_ to lie down though?"

There was a pause.

"Mm."

Yuri felt pretty uncomfortable, unused to the physical contact and desperately hoping she couldn't feel the bandages underneath. Monika knew already, but Yuri didn't need to know that Monika knew. And now you know that Yuri doesn't know Monika knows what Yuri knows. Fuck.

Tipping herself over on the couch to make the situation at the very least a little more comfortable, Yuri hugged Monika back. They lay like that, and then they both had drifted to sleep.


	4. Fifth Load

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsuki time!
> 
> ...(shit)

_B-_

_"FUCKING!"_ Monika yelled in English as she threw the alarm clock across the room and through the wall.

Well, technically she was  _always_ speaking English, but the game labels the language they speak as Japanese so...

Something to do with weebs? Whatever that meant.

Monika then realized, with the hole in her wall... She didn't have to give a single shit about the house because of the loads. She was free to destroy or do whatever she wanted with it, and it'd just revert back to normal.

The next hour was spent by Monika taking her stress out on the guest bedroom, ending up with about seventy-four different holes in the wall made by various furniture and items.

Feeling relieved, Monika went through the rest of her routine, and followed the day until club time.

_I'm going for Natsuki today so..._ Monika thought to herself.  _I'll need to redirect Hajime somehow... how about forcing his choice?_

She sat in a different spot this time, near where Natsuki would fall. She knew that Natsuki's fall wasn't major, but...

Monika wasted the time in between by carving things into the desk. Not like it'll matter, and nobody actually goes near this desk during the loop anyway.

Everyone was in the club, now, and everything was getting into place...

Then the usual happened, but this time... Monika rushed over to Natsuki, helping her up.

"H-Hey!" Natsuki yelped as Monika picked her up. "I didn't need your help!"

"Well, you never know. Maybe you got really injured and would never had told us." Monika scanned Natsuki's face while she was thinking of a response. It showed... Slight fear, and some kind of sadness-induced rage.

"Hmph! Well, I'm fine now, so you can put me down." Natsuki huffed. Monika complied but when the smaller girl was set down she noticeably winced.

"Does it hurt? I can help you to the nur-"

"Nonono, it's fine!" Natsuki turned away. "I can go there myself."

She stomped off. Or at least stomped with her left foot, since her right was the one that got hit by the desk. Those desks are fucking evil, man. Monika hummed to herself happily, since this meant that Hajime didn't have Natsuki as a choice.

She went over to Hajime and gave him the choice script, up until the choice part.

"Oh, by the way, Natsuki had to go to the nurse. She tripped and fell earlier and is refusing to let anyone visit."

"Really? Damn."

Hajime nodded and was given the choice. Unsurprisingly, he went to Sayori. It seemed the default choice was Sayori—then again his AI also might sympathize with her more. She wasn't sure how the player would handle defaulted choices, or if the AI did it for them.

As Hajime was baited towards Sayori, Monika excused herself from the club room to go visit Natsuki. What? She could lie once in a while. Besides, nobody else would notice—Yuri's too absorbed in whatever book she had, and Sayori and Hajime were talking to each other.

Inside the surprisingly clean and surprisingly dirty office, Monika looked around for any signs of the pink haired cinnamon roll. Turned out she was behind one of the beds, just laying there and holding her ankle. It looked like she didn't even see the nurse about it.

"Hey." Monika said softly as she came around the bed corner fully.

"What are you doing here?" Natsuki said as she turned away. "I'm just a dumb girl who deserved what she got. You're miss freakin' perfect."

"That doesn't mean we can't be friends." Monika said as she slumped down next to Natsuki. "Hey, hey, look at me."

Natsuki reluctantly agreed and Monika could see the tear trails down her face.

"You didn't deserve that, okay? I'm not perfect either, so..." Monika didn't know where she wanted to go with this. "L-Look. If you need anything—anything at all—I'm open the entire evening. Just give me a call or something."

Natsuki nodded, and looked down at her own feet. "...Can I... Come over?"

"Oh, sure! Any time you want, really!"

"...Even right after club ends?"

"Yeah. I could use the company."

They both noticed the clock at the same time, which had 4:33 emblazoned on it. Club ended three minutes ago.

"Oh." They both said in unison.

"...So I guess we both leave now?" Natsuki said as she shakily stood up.

"Yeah, let's." Monika stood up and supported Natsuki. "...Wait, were you going to go to your house first for anything?"

"Nope." Natsuki said, almost too fast.

The walk home was rather boring, save for Natsuki trying to scare some birds and said birds retaliating by throwing sticks from above. Damn birds, you're scaring the cinnamon roll!

When the door was shut behind them, Natsuki gazed around the house.

"...Man, your parents must be stacked."

"My parents are dead."

"O-Oh, uhm, s-sorry I—"

"Nah, it's fine. I've already come to terms with it."

The two sat down in the living room.

"So, uh, did you want to do anything? Or did you just want to be here?"

Natsuki looked down a moment, solemn. "Both, really."

"I've got a lot of things. Oh! I got this new game that's supposed to screw with your mind, we could try that."

"What's it called?"

"Antichamber, or something like that."

"Hm... Sure."

The pair found themselves thirty minutes later with the controller between them and a makeshift map on the table in front of them.

"Okay so we entered from here and—"

"—came out here, but when we turned around—"

"—we were looking through this hallway?"

"Fuck I'm confused." Both of them said at the same time.

"Y'know what, I think that's enough for today." Monika sighed, turning off the game. "I'd much prefer to stay sane and not think about those goddamned eye doors."

Natsuki shuddered at the mention of the eye doors. "Y-Yeah, how about we, uh... Hm..." The baker thought for a moment, then applied her talent to the situation. "Oh! How about we cook something!"

"...Are you sure you want me to help cook?"

"What's the worst that could happen?"

Evidently, the worst that could happen was the microwave bursting on fire even though neither of them touched it. Monika made a mental note to investigate that on a later loop. The cupcakes had burned while they were putting out one fire, and then they had to put out another.

Burned cupcakes or not, the experience was a breath of fresh air for the both of them.

Natsuki seemed a little fidgety while the two sat on the couch, with nothing going on.

"Hm?" Monika looked over at Natsuki. "If you want to ask something, go ahead."

"C-can I stay the night?" Natsuki stammered out.

"What about your parents?"

"I'll deal with them later."

Monika made a mental note to torture Natsuki's father later.

"Alright. I've got a guest room, so you can stay the night there."

Monika felt like she was forgetting something.

"Where is it?" Natsuki said, getting up.

"Left at the top of the stairs, Second on your right." Monika said as she went back to staring at the ceiling.

_..._

_..._

_Didn't I...?_

_oH SHITSHITSHITSHIT_

"wAIT!" Monika felt out of the couch, seeing Natsuki having just turned left.

The meta woman rushed up the stairs and got up just in time to watch Natsuki open the door.

"...Oh." Natsuki looked at the damage.

"I... uh... have bad coping habits." Monika said from behind Natsuki.

"...I see that." Natsuki turned around and looked Monika in the eye. "But you better have another room! I don't want to sleep in the bathtub again, thanks."

"Again?"

"Ignore that!"

"Hm... No, no other rooms." That was a lie, since there was still her parents old room and a pullout couch in the basement. "But you can sleep with me!"

"Wha-Why would I want to sleep with you!?"

"We're both girls. And unless you've been reading some of another club member's namesake, it should be fine."

Natsuki's face turned bright red as she deciphered the meaning of the second statement.

"Of course, I wouldn't mind either way." Monika muttered in a way that made Natsuki unsure if she heard that out loud or in her mind.

Natsuki stammered for quite a bit, then snapped herself out.

"F-f-fine! But only because there's nowhere else!"

Monika found herself with an underwear-clad Natsuki ("I don't want my uniform to get dirty from the bed!") while she herself was in pajamas.

Natsuki was lightly snoring, though Monika noticed she seemed to be grabbing for something in her sleep.

The second she brought her arm close the tiny beartrap caught its prey and wouldn't let go.

Alternatively: Natsuki took Monika's arm and held it close with a little more force than Monika had expected.

_...This is fine._ Monika thought as she drifted off.


	5. ? Load

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm depressed and everything starts going downhill.  
> Fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao depression's a bitch
> 
> sorry about being horrible with schedules

Monika woke up to the alarm clock.

She walked downstairs, and obliterated the living room television this time.

She went to school.

...School.

Why was it so boring? Nothing ever happened, in reality. Monika thought that she'd watch another student closely after a while, but that ran out pretty quickly—they were faceless background nobodies, anyway. Her phone could access the internet, but she drew blanks on what to search or watch. The club was always the same, always the fucking same.

And everyone just ignored her.

It was a funny thing. Monika could take center stage in the blink of an eye but by the next blink it's stolen from her. Replaced with someone who was more interesting, had flaws. She was flawless. That was her flaw. Paradoxical, wasn't it?

Monika had lost her mind a few hundred loops ago. She lost track, really. She skipped school some days, murdered the entire cast others. She found out suicide did nothing. There was no point.

No point at all.

Nothing ever changed. It was all the same.

All the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same all the same—

* * *

Monika had decided to do something she thought she never would this time.

...Which explains the tied up pink haired girl in the basement.

So many things she could do now... Maybe she'll try all of them at one point or another.

Monika had brought her sex drive under control, but it was always nice to let it out once in a while, right?

Or she could make a sort of... Servant. Yeah. Devoted to her and only her.

Or to hell with it, gut the girl and refresh yourself on her specific biology! Wasn't her stomach and left breast bruised? Oh, and there was that almost fractured leg.

Of course, there were more tame routes. Pretend some kind of...  _thing_ was after her, maybe?

Trap the basement door and shut yourself in with her. Make it so if  _she_ exits, she dies, but if Monika does she'll only get injured, being taller. How would she even go about setting that up?

Worth it.

Monika put the plan into action.

She waited for the girl to wake up.

...

...

...

"Mmh?" Natsuki woke up in the couch beside Monika. The traps had been set and the pink haired baker had been untied while she was drugged. "Wh—Monika?"

"Oh, thank god you're alive." Monika breathed a sigh of relief. Or at least, that was what it was supposed to sound like.

"What do you mean by that!?" Natsuki asked, faux-annoyed. Monika could tell she was actually pretty concerned.

"You've been out... Five, six days?" Monika lied, though she was used to it at this point. "I—I found you on your front porch, and you were knocked out. I, uhm, I looked over your body and..."

"A-And?" Natsuki blushed. The prospect of having been seen without clothes at all had embarrassed her.

"Well... I found bruises and scars all over you. From the state of things, you, uh, shouldn't even be alive at this point." Sure, she was exaggerating, but who cares? Okay, maybe Natsuki, but she'd just forget and the loop would repeat. "I couldn't just let my friend die!"

"Hmph! You should know better than for me to die easily!" Natsuki seemed annoyed, though she was really grateful. "Anyway, I think I can—" The small girl tried to get up and yelped.

"Wh-What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I-uh, I'm fine." Natsuki stood up, though she seemed to put all her weight on her right leg.

"Hmm... Fine, fine." Monika sat down, and motioned Natsuki down with her. "But, uh, there's a sort of important detail about all this."

"And exactly what would that be?" Natsuki sat down, sighing silently in relief.

"Uhm, this guy started stalking me since I took you in. Sort of tall, not that muscled but still slim, white hair?"

Natsuki stared wide-eyed at Monika. Monika had just described her father, though with that description anyone with white hair could fit the description if you tried hard enough.

"A-Anyway, I'm... scared. I don't know what he wants, all I know is that right now he's outside of the house." Monika watched Natsuki reel in alarm. "D-do you know anything?"

Natsuki said nothing.

"Alright... just in case though, I think it'd be better if we stayed down here for the time being."

Natsuki said nothing.

"Uh... hello?"

Natsuki suddenly jumped up and started climbing the stairs.

"W-Wait! Natsuki!" Monika chased and caught up with the baker. "He might be dangerous! I don't know what would happen if you showed yourself... I couldn't stand myself if I let you die."

"Well papa wouldn't shoot me, would he?"

"Sh-sh-shoot you? 'Papa'!?" Monika said in faux surprise.

"Let me go up and reason with him. Please."

Monika trailed slightly behind, plan falling to place.

Natsuki turned the basement door knob.

Once the door opens past a certain point, she will have five seconds.

...

...

Now.

Natsuki opened the door to the point where they could both see, and Monika had set up a mannequin outside the window wearing a disguise. It looked real enough from the distance they were at, and it was holding a rifle. The same model as Natsuki's dad's, though not the same exact one. Natsuki stared blankly at the mannequin while Monika rushed forward and pushed her back and down the stairs, grabbing the handle.

**_KHH!_ **

Bright red blossomed on Monika's uniform as she pulled the door shut with her body weight. If she was going to watch the rest of this unfold, she'd need to minimize energy and blood loss. The bullet had hit her in the chest, just barely missing vitals. Natsuki's fall down the stairs was accompanied by screaming, though she was relatively okay when she got to the bottom.

Monika pushed the lock into place and let her body fall down the stairs. It was a painful ride, but the bullet wound was painful in and of itself, so... Besides, she had gotten used to pain at this point. Natsuki had gotten up and watched in horror as Monika's own body came tumbling down.

"M-Monika!" Natsuki rushed to the older girl as she came to a stop. She checked vitals, or at least tried to. Natsuki was in the heat of the moment, and didn't actually know what she was doing.

"I'm-I'll be... No, I won't bother with it." Monika looked up into Natsuki's eyes. "H-Hey, listen, drag me over to the sofa will ya? Try not to stain the carpet." Monika offered a light chuckle. The same kind you'd hear from someone about to die.

Natsuki did what she was told, and brought Monika over to where Natsuki herself had just woken up thirty minutes ago.

"Stay with me. Please." Monika tried to limply put her arm around Natsuki. "Please."

Natsuki laid down beside the downed girl, uncaring about the bloodstains.

"Hey, hey Natsuki?"

"...Hm?"

"I know you'll have to go out there at some point. Do me a favor when you do, okay?"

"What... is it?"

"To run. Get away from him."

"Wh-Why?"

"I don't want you to be hurt anymore."

"Please... Don't..."

"I'm... Sorry..." Monika felt the life draining out of her. Blood loss was a bitch.

"Monika! Mo...ka! No! ....ka!" Monika felt the life fade out of her as she thought about what to do on the next loop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh by the way I'm taking prompts now because I have nothing else to do with my life


	6. n+0.5 Load

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Monika burns the school down"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the +0.5 means that there's a second part at some point.  
> At some point.

Wake up, burn the cou—

Wait.

Burning things?

Monika thought to herself as she watched the blaze in her backyard at 6:30 in the morning.

She hadn't tried burning things yet, or at least large-scale. Maybe... The school? Well, that'd be arson. Then again, she's also stuck in a loop so she doesn't need to worry about the consequences.

Though... she wouldn't want her friends—if she could call them that—to get trapped in there. She'd have to warn them somehow. But discreetly. So they don't think she's some kind of nutcase.

Or she could just get them to blow off school a different way.

**Monika** : You guys want to ditch today?

**Sayori** : hell yeah!

**Natsuki** : fuck no

**Yuri** : Ditch?

**Natsuki** : taking the day off from school for no real reason dummy

**Yuri** : I know what ditching is, just...

**Yuri** : *Monika* is the one suggesting this.

**Yuri** : This seem a bit fishy to you guys?

**Sayori** : idc ditching anyway

**Sayori** : lmao

**Natsuki** : dad would kill me if i ditched

~~**Monika** : She's not kidding.~~

**Monika** : You'll be fine! I figured out how to get into the school's systems so I can just mark all of us as present.

**Yuri** : Wouldn't they notice?

**Natsuki** : ...

**Monika** : ...

**Sayori** : lmao

**Yuri** : Point taken.

**Natsuki** : i still need to get out of the house though

**Yuri** : We could meet up somewhere.

**Sayori** : you guys can i'm just gonna sleep in

**Monika** : Don't be like that!

**Monika** : I could do something special with you. ;)

**Natsuki** : PG13 PEOPLE

**Monika** : ;)

**Sayori** : nah, still sleeping in

**Sayori** : if you wanna come over to do that though go ahead

**Natsuki** : SHUT

**Natsuki** : THIS IS PG13 CHAT

**Natsuki** : FUCK EACH OTHER IN DMS OR SOMETHING

_**Natsuki, Sayori, and Yuri are typing...** _

While Monika left the shitstorm to do it's thing, she started looking up arson tips. She was probably on some kind of watchlist now, but whatever.

A little bit into her study she got a direct message from someone. Checking her phone it was Sayori.

**Sayori** : so about the special thing

**Sayori** : was it sex or

**Monika** : It can be whatever you want it to be. ;)

**Sayori** : so if i asked something like going on a murder spree would you be down

**Monika** : That was... kind of specific.

**Sayori** : hypothetically lmao

**Monika** : But yes.

**Sayori** : better example

**Sayori** : wait what

**Monika** : long story

**Sayori** : are you okay

**Monika** : Are you?

**Sayori** : shitgotmethere.png

**Sayori** : but seriously i want to do something

**Monika** : Well you could help me with a project I'm working on

**Sayori** : what is it about?

**Monika** : Arson investigations.

_Sure, let's go with that._

**Sayori** : oh, well

**Sayori** : because arson is fire they mostly have to deal with burnt shit

**Sayori** : if you're going for a "no evidence" deal best solution is to cut the water to the sprinklers in a spot that'll get burnt down anyway

**Sayori** : tripping a breaker is a bad idea, because you could use faulty lighting or smth to make it look like an accident

**Sayori** : oh, and wear a set of footwear that you're not afraid to burn later

**Sayori** : footprints are a bitch sometimes lmao

**Monika** : And... why do you know these things?

**Sayori** : reasons

**Monika** : No, seriously.

**Sayori** : *reasons*

**Monika** : okay well

**Monika** : Meet me in the school's ball shed

**Sayori** : ball shed?

**Monika** : Where they store the balls

**Sayori** : this sounds like a fetish thing lmao

**Sayori** : do they have strapons

**Monika** : sTOP

**Sayori** : fine, meet you in thirty

Monika sighed to herself and left her house for some criminal activity. Always fun.

The club president had arrived early, but not too early. She waited by the shed, out of view from the school and on the same side as the door. She got bored enough that she started tapping her foot.

Suddenly, Sayori burst out of the shed—surprising Monika ( _been a while since that's happened_ ) and breathing deeply.

"Fffffuck! It's stuffy in there!" Sayori panted into the winter air.

"You were in there with your coat on." Monika noted.

"Well I thought that the shed wouldn't be insulated! It's a shed!"

"Well, anyway—"

"Oh, hey, remember the kinky stuff I said? So, uh, turns out people  _do_ use this shed for sex."

"What."

"I found lube in there. The label said it was lemon flavored. Who the hell flavors lube!?"

"I'm more curious as to why you even checked the label after 'lube.'"

"Well I thought that, uhm, maybe I could use it?"

"With?"

"Well you called me to a shed that I have evidence that people use for sex. I got excited."

"Fair point." Monika was regretting her meeting point of choice, but decided to play with her hand anyway. She put on a smirk. "Maybe later though, so go ahead and pocket it."

Sayori squealed a little bit and rapidly vanished inside the shed for a second and came out with a small bulge protruding from where a sweater pocket would be underneath the coat.

"So about that arson thing—"

"What, did you want to burn the school down?" Sayori joked.

"Yes, actually."

Sayori took a moment to process this. "I-I'm sorry, what?"

"I called you here to help me burn the school down."

Sayori paused. Then came the realization.

"So the reason you called for a ditch was—"

"So you girls wouldn't be caught in the fire, yes."

"What about Hajime?"

Oh shit, Hajime.

"He'll make it out. Probably."

"Probably?"

"Don't worry about him."

"I—"

"I said don't worry. He's smart enough to get out." Monika mumbled a "probably" under her breath, which Sayori didn't catch. "Anyway, so where do we start?"

"Well... We need to figure out where the fire's gonna start. If we just set one randomly, it might just go out in thirty minutes tops. We'll need to cut sprinklers and break or hide fire extinguishers. We'll also need to somehow cut the fire alarms if we want a silent fire, or leave them for no evidence. Which do you want?"

"Cut them."

"In which case we'll also be cutting cameras. I've seen the camera locations and their blindspots so it should be easy to get to—"

"Wait, why do you know the camera spots or whatever?"

"I get bored sometimes. Anyway, I can route us so we can get to the power room so we can cut alarms and cameras. I think the best starting point for an accident would be a janitor's closet, since I've seen the inside and oh my god everything looked abandoned. If we want to say 'someone started this fire' and go for burn coverage we could go for the teacher's lounge."

"We're already cutting cameras and alarms..."

"So teacher's lounge?"

"Sure."

Monika shivered for a second. "You wanna get into the shed for a little bit though? It's freezing out here and I prefer if we plan inside in a not-cold area."

Sayori opened the door with a grandiose motion. "After you."

"Cute." Monika said under her breath as she went inside, with Sayori closing the door behind them.

Then they planned...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full prompt: "Monika decides that she might as well see what happens when she tries to burn the school down. She didn't expect Sayori to be so helpful when it came to arson."  
> —Alliterationisfun


	7. n+2 load

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hotototototell: "Nobody else is home right? Let's go raid everybody's houses."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey remember "memory loss and depression"
> 
> haha yes
> 
> Also I decided to actually skip n+1 because writer's block and honestly I also wanted to do something new

Today's plan started with another alarm clock through the window.

Wait, no, that was before planning started.

Then there was orange juice, blowing off school, then trying to figure out what she hasn't done yet.

Monika left her house with a multitude of breaking and entering tools at her disposal. Well... tool, because all she brought was a sledgehammer. Still, it was something, and it'll break doors just fine.

_Seriously what is it with me and crimes?_ Monika thought to herself. For the past... a lot of loads, she's been committing a crime in one way or another. Oh well, she'll probably try something else next load.

First stop: Yuri's house, because it was close.

From the outside, it looked like your basic, everyday house. Of course, everybody that wasn't Monika had that same house with similar layouts. Maybe all that editing is what caused that microwave fire...

Whatever, breaking and entering time!

Monika scouted the place, checking for the most optimal point of entry. Then she said fuck it and busted down the back door.

Crawling in through the splintered hole, the first thing Monika saw was the kitchen. Relatively neat, nothing of note in particular other than a rustic looking teapot on top of the fridge.

In fact, the majority of Yuri's house was pretty basic and simplistic. Of course, there  _were_ knives hidden literally everywhere, and Monika decided to nab a few for shits and giggles. (And to make Yuri panic later. Actually, that gave her an idea for a future load...)

Yuri's bedroom, in particular, was also simplistic. Nothing wrong with it, in fact Monika actually admired her design choices.  ~~Then again, those choices weren't hers.~~

Exiting the way she came, Monika needed to decide where to go next. The next closest one would be... Sayori and Hajime, actually.

Sayori first, Monika guessed.

The entry went smoothly, the door was actually unlocked. Monika let herself into a messy house, with garbage not everywhere, but definitely in a lot of places. The kitchen was a mess, the floors were a mess, was that a slice of bread nailed to the wall?

Monika remembered Sayori's room from the CG selection, but she felt like she wanted to be more thorough.

Cute giant cow plushie. Monika forgot where she got that, actually. Under the bed was a two meter length of rope. That  _was_ supposed to be used later, but honestly Monika doesn't even know what "later" is anymore. She noticed the calendar, which was marked "2017", though she didn't know if it was this year or Sayori just didn't bother changing calendar. Inside the closet were a lot of outfits, and hidden behind them was more rope for a... different purpose. Let's leave it at that. The box on top contained old photo albums, and the tiny closet below the closet was for shoes. Or it would've been, if it wasn't crammed with books and manga. Monika recognized some of the titles, and was not surprised.

With that finished, Monika left by just leaving the house.

Hajime's house was pretty much the same deal, except the door was locked so... Guess he doesn't have a doorknob anymore, huh?

God, why is he so boring? Everything was literally empty. How does he live? Where the fuck does he get food from?  _How does Natsuki bake in this damn kitchen?_

Okay fuck this, next house.

Actually, wait, sledgehammer to his bed first  _then_ next house.

Last house on the list was Natsuki's who lived on the other side of the town, actually. So a lot of walking later, Monika finally arrived at the pink cinnamon bun's house. Except it looks like someone was actually home.

Oh, her father. Of course.

A swift sledgehammer window switcharoo later, he was lying in a pool of blood from a large concave wound to the back of his head. Oh well, nothing of value lost. Except maybe the tiles. Those needed to be replaced anyway, sweet jesus they were tacky.

A quick scan of the living room produced a lot of empty cans of beer, a slightly busted television, and the couch he was sitting in before Monika-Woman saved the day(?). Moving on, the kitchen was a mess of flour and dirty dishes, which  _had_ to be bad for it.

Moving on from that, the father's room was a mess, and the closet seemed untouched. Natsuki's room was surprisingly bright and cheery, with manga everywhere. The desk had some manga in it, the closet was a treasure trove of manga, there was a  _ton_ of smut under the bed, not to mention the volumes laying on her desk.

Having peeked around enough, she exited out the back door and went home.

That was... not entirely enlightening, but it was something to do.

Monika went to bed...

**Author's Note:**

> woohoo slow starts are fun  
> especially when I'm not guaranteed to update past the first two chapters lmao


End file.
